Dash

Problem: Dash is a house numbers project that began with a rather simple question: how do you form a full number from a single strip of metal?

Method: The project initially began with bending and shaping annealed strips of copper to see how the material behaved and what kinds of forms could be made. However, these forms weren’t really reproducible, so I searched for a way to make the numbers so that you could bend them in a uniform fashion every single time.

The resulting forms were fashioned in stainless steel with perforations at specific points that, when bent, would form an individual numeral. The numerals would be shipped flat-pack to the consumer who then bends them into shape. This increases the amount of product that can be transported in one shipment and reduces emissions per unit shipped.

Dash was awarded First Place for Student Work by the Type Directors Club of New York for the TDC56 Typography Competition and was featured in Typography 31, the TDC’s 2010 Annual.